Online Abuse: A Global Problem

Online bullying is a global phenomenon that won’t go anytime soon. While authorities try and do their best, the sheer numbers can sometimes be just too much to handle, as this report by the United Kingdom’s Evening Standard suggests.

According to the report, one case of online bullying or harassment is reported from England and Wales every 10 minutes. “Official stats revealing the dangers of cyber space show police logged more than 55,000 internet-related offences in the space of a year, working out to an average of 150 a day,” the report stated.

What is even more startling is that fraud and computer misuse is not part of the report at all. The police only targeted child sex abuse allegations, harassment and blackmail.

Statisticians from the Office for National Statistics, which published the data, said the amount of cybercrime is only set to rise as identifying these sorts of offenses improves.

India, too, reported similar numbers as this July 2017 Times of India report suggests. However, unlike the UK report, this report primarily included phishing, scanning or probing, site intrusions, defacements, virus or malicious code, ransom ware and denial-of-service attacks.

When it comes to abuse, the most common forms of online harassment are abuse and insults (63 per cent) and malicious gossip and rumours (59 per cent). “Shockingly, 87 per cent of the people with disabilities or poor mental health and 77 per cent of those with weight issues reported experiences of abuse or insults online,” an Indian Express report stated, quoting a report by Symantec and Norton, which also stated that 8 out of 10 people with Internet access in India have been victims of online bullying and harassment.

Online harassment often triggered emotional reactions, with 45 per cent of the people saying it made them feel angry, 41 per cent irritated and 36 per cent frustrated. Worryingly, one in four women found their experience frightening.

These numbers are startling enough for people to know that if they have been bullied on social media, they need to come out and address the matter to the cyber cell.